MacGyver 1×21 Cigar Cutter preview

On the latest episode of MacGyver, Mac impersonated Murdoc to take down a terrorist group.

The episode opened up with Mac (Lucas Till) and the Phoenix Foundation playing in a baseball game against the NSA. Jack (George Eads) tried to give them a pep talk during a break but it wasn’t very helpful. Matty (Meredith Eaton) forced them to forfeit the game when something came up for the team to handle.

Back at the office, Matty explained that a terrorist group known as Omnus was trying to hire Murdoc to kill The Architect. Mac suggested that Omnus might not know what Murdoc looked like or that he was in jail. He proposed that he pose as Murdoc.

Mac and Matty paid a visit to Murdoc in jail to see if he would help. After talking together, Matty spoke to him alone. She showed him that they knew where his son was and would tell him the truth about his father if he didn’t agree to help. Murdoc agreed to help coach Mac.

Murdoc set him a challenge to evaluate Mac. He was sent to meet a couple who wanted to hire a hitman to kill the man who killed their daughter and got away with it. They told him their story but got up and left when Mac suggested they talk about his fee. Back with Murdoc, Mac realised that he sometimes carried out hits for free. Murdoc explained that things do always go to plan and Mac should have improvised.

Murdoc told Mac he needed to believe what he was doing was right. He told Mac a story of when he was a child and almost died by eating a peanut. His immune system managed to save his life. He said that the work he and Mac did was the same, targeting people to make society better. Mac disagreed as he put people in prison, while Murdoc killed them. Murdoc suggested his way was more efficient.

Murdoc then told Mac how Matty had threatened his son to get her way. He then went on to say he knew Mac’s mother had died but that his father was still alive. He even told Mac what his father would probably be doing. Mac lost it and grabbed Murdoc around the throat before coming to his senses. Murdoc laughed and exclaimed that Mac was a killer too. Mac received a message from Matty that the Omnus meeting had been moved forward. Murdoc said he hoped Mac had learnt enough.

Jack drove Mac to the Omnus meet where his mission was to get info on The Architect. Inside, Mac acted like Murdoc and took out a security guard to get his keycard. He then took the lift to floor 24. Meanwhile, Jack and his team set up on the roof.

While in the lift, a phone began ringing. Mac opened up the lift console and found a burner phone. The man on the other end said it had been a while since they last spoke about the El Salvador job. Mac took a risk and said they had never spoken and there was no such job. He passed the test and was told the details of his mark were on the phone along with a number to provide proof of death. He was also told he had picked up a tail. Mac ditched his comms and pick-pocketed some car keys to steal a car. Jack was worried but Matty said to give Mac a chance.

Mac drove to the house of his target and captured him using a constriction rope. He took him to a motel room where he interrogated him. The man said he knew nothing about Omnus or The Architect. Mac believed him and cut him free but was confused why he had been offered $10 million to kill him.

Mac updated Phoenix and then the burner phone called. They were annoyed Mac had disabled GPS on the burner. When they demanded results, Mac demanded more money and got the contract upped to $15 million. They gave him 30 minutes to carry it out. Mac declared that he would fake the man’s death to trick them.

Mac posed his target and made up the bathroom to look like a murder scene. He realistically spattered fake blood around the place and used dust from the wall to make his target more pale. The target explained the details of a computer program he recently wrote. The contract for him was released to stop his program from discovering their secret signals.

Matty ran the program and tracked the signals. They discovered that the users were all part of the Organisation that Patricia Thornton worked for. Mac took a photo of his target and sent it to the number as instructed. It was sent just before Riley said not to send it, her reason was because it contained his location in the metadata. After the photo was sent the program showed 12 signals converging on Mac’s location.

As usual, Mac jumped into action and quickly cobbled together a selection of items including some pop cans and cleaning products. He made a fog machine, to give them cover, and some flash-bangs to distract the attackers. Jack and the team arrived in time to take out the rest of the attackers. Mac went after the guy in charge and knocked him out.

Mac went back to visit Murdoc and explained he beat the mission without killing anyone. Murdoc was fine as long as Mac was alive as he wanted to kill him. Mac thanked Murdoc but he didn’t care. As Mac left, Murdoc tucked into some peanuts while telling Mac that people will believe what they want. He said Mac probably wanted to believe that this was over.

Elsewhere in the episode, Riley (Tristin Mays) and Bozer (Justin Hires) were tasked with following up on the story from the couple who Mac met earlier. Their mission took them to a gold course where they could spy on their target. Riley hacked the phone of the target and discovered he had two mistresses. Riley commented she could understand why Murdoc carried out some hits for free.

Riley and Bozer decided they needed more evidence. They discovered that one mistress had sold some GPS locator tags to him. They tracked them and realised one was separate from the others. They investigated and found a golf club with blood on the head. It was probably the weapon used to kill the couple’s daughter.

Riley and Bozer then went to meet with the couple. They told them that the man who killed their daughter had been arrested. The golf club was the evidence needed to link him to the crime.

At the end of the episode, Matty interrogated the guy Mac captured. She told him his entire history to show how much they knew about him. He replied that the one thing she didn’t know was that he wanted to be caught.

The next episode is Cigar Cutter. The official synopsis for the episode reads:

Murdoc moves forward with his plans for revenge against MacGyver by recruiting his recently released former cellmate to infiltrate the Phoenix Complex as a “lab technician” and kill every agent inside.

Tune in to Sky 1 at 8pm Wednesday to see the episode. Preview it with our gallery below: